For so long, the bow was the only long-range weapon in Minecraft. Everything just revolved around swords and bows, which was rather sad. So, when the crossbow came out in the 1.14 update, it was a game-changer. You sacrifice some reload speed for extra damage, which always comes in handy. The crossbow is already a good weapon, but the following best crossbow enchantments Minecraft will make it great!
Table of Contents
1. Pros and cons of crossbow in Minecraft
In Minecraft, crossbows are pretty much similar to bows but take longer to load and deal slightly more damage. The arrow or ammunition will also travel farther with slightly better accuracy. So, for the reduction of reload time, you gain extra damage, range, and accuracy. That seems like a pretty good deal for us.
However, there's more to the equation. The mechanic of the crossbow may turn you off if you're familiar with that of the bow. Unlike bows, crossbows can only fire arrows or firework rockets after they are fully charged. And when you charge the weapon, you will move at sneak speed. During that time, you're vulnerable to damage.
In our opinion, the crossbow is the best long-range weapon for large groups of enemies in Minecraft. Not only you can enchant it with Multishot to fire multiple shots at once, but you can also equip firework rockets as ammunition to increase the damage.
Bows vs. Crossbows, which to choose? That's entirely up to you. With the right build, any weapon can be OP in Minecraft. Having said that, let's check out the damage stats of crossbows:
Crossbow Attack Strength (Java Edition)
- Minimum: 6 - 3 hearts
- Maximum: 11 - 5.5 hearts
- Maximum (With Firework): 18 - 9 hearts. Only firework rockets with explosion effects deal damage when used as ammunition for the crossbows. The blast radius of the rockets remains at 4 blocks, regardless of the number of Firework Stars and their effects. However, the blast damage increases with each Firework Star, capping at 18 (9 hearts) with 7 Firework Stars.
- Average: 9 - 4.5 hearts
Crossbow Attack Strength (Bedrock Edition)
Always: 9 - 4.5 hearts
All in all, the crossbow is best for dealing with large groups of enemies thanks to its potential to deal AOE damage. It shoots further with more accuracy than bows. However, crossbows take longer to reload. Therefore, the best crossbow enchantments Minecraft should reduce its reload time and buff its damage output.
2. How to make a crossbow in Minecraft
Before you can enchant the crossbow, you have to craft on first. To make a crossbow, you will need the following materials:
- Stick x3
- Iron Ingot
- String x2
- Tripwire Hook
Crafting Recipe
Here's the recipe to make a crossbow in Minecraft:
- Open the Crafting Table.
- Place the Tripwire Hook in the middle slot, followed by 2 Strings on either side.
- Place the Iron Ingot in the middle slot of the first row.
- In the middle slot of the first row, put in 1 Stick. The two remaining Sticks go to either side of the Iron Ingot.
- Drag the Crossbow to your inventory.
Crossbow Spawn Command
If you don't want to go through any trouble collecting the materials for a crossbow, then use commands to spawn one. The crossbow spawn command is: "/give @p minecraft:crossbow 1". Just open the chat bar and paste this command. You will automatically receive a crossbow.
Do you want to take things even further? Then use this God Crossbow - Minecraft Command.
It should give you a Multishot crossbow, with piercing, and reloads immediately. Have fun!
How To Repair Crossbows?
Players can combine two worn crossbows to make a new one using the Crafting Table, the Anvil, or the Grindstone. The new crossbow's durability equals those of the two damaged crossbows, plus an extra 5% durability.
3. Best crossbow enchantments Minecraft
Here are all of the different enchantments you can apply to the crossbow. We will rank them from best enchantments for crossbows to worst based on our experience in Minecraft.
Quick Charge III
Description: Reduces the amount of time to reload a crossbow.
As we have mentioned before, the biggest drawback of the crossbow is its reload time. Quick Charge reduces that duration with either an arrow or a firework rocket. The regular loading time is 1.25 seconds or 25 ticks. Each enchantment level decreases the loading time by 0.25 seconds. So, with Quick Charge III, your crossbow only requires just 0.5 seconds to load.
You can obtain Quick Charge I and Quick Charge II from the Enchanting table and fishing. Loot chests of Dungeons and library rooms in Strongholds may also contain them.
To get Quick Charge III, you can combine two crossbows/books that both have Quick Charge II on them. Another way is to trade with a librarian villager, or by finding it in a chest in an abandoned mineshaft or Desert Pyramid.
Trivia: If you use commands to increase the enchantment level of Quick Charge to level 5 (Java Edition only), the crossbow loads instantly.
Multishot
Description: Shoots 3 arrows at once but only costs 1 arrow (from your inventory).
Multishot causes the crossbow to shoot three arrows at once, sending them in different directions, but consumes only one arrow. However, you can only collect the central arrow after shooting. But remember that crossbows with the Multishot enchantment use three durability points per shot instead of one.
Multishot is incompatible with Piercing.
Trivia: In Java Edition, only one arrow from the same shot can damage the same mob.
Piercing IV
Description: Arrow can pierce through multiple entities.
Piercing allows the crossbow to fire arrows that can pass through the number of entities equal to the enchantment level. You can still retrieve the arrow after shooting it through a mob, allowing for infinite use of all arrow types. Piercing ignores shields even when they are blocking.
Piercing is incompatible with Multishot.
Trivia: Piercing has no effect on firework rockets fired from a crossbow.
Mending
Description: Uses XP to mend your tools, weapons, and armor.
Nothing's worse than reforging best enchantments for Minecraft crossbosw then losing them because the durability runs out. To fix that, add in Mending. It will repair the crossbow whenever it's on your main hand using experience orbs collected from any source. The rate of repair is two durabilities per point of experience contained in the orb.
Unbreaking III
Description: Increases durability of an item.
Unbreaking is the cheaper, less effective version of Mending. It's also one of the most powerful enchantments in Minecraft. For most items, there is a chance that using the item reduces durability. On average, your crossbow will last {Enchantment Level +1} times as long.
It's not the greatest, but it will buy you some time with your tools or armors.
Curse of Vanishing
Description: Cursed item will disappear after the player dies.
Curse of Vanishing is, in most cases, the worst possible enchantment you can forge into your crossbow. Its main purpose is to permanently remove an item from the world so that no other player can take it from you.
But in a Survival world, this is completely useless. There's no point in spending hours looking for the best enchantments for your crossbow only to lose it forever. That would not be the smartest thing to do. So, unless you're on a competitive multiplayer server, steer clear from Curse of Vanishing.
Trivia: If you place an item enchanted with the Curse of Vanishing in a chest before death, it will not disappear.
Summary: What are the best enchantments for crossbow?
Now that we have listed out all available enchantments for crossbows in Minecraft, it's time for the build. Since you cannot add everything on the list to your crossbow, you will have to choose.
Also, the best build for you should be based on your current game mode and preference. For example, if you're fighting other players, you can use Curse of Vanishing to prevent them from acquiring your items.
With that said, the following crossbow build will be for general purposes. They maintain its performance in all scenarios.
- Multishot
- Quick Charge
- Unbreaking III
- Mending
4. How to build TechnoBlade's crossbow from the Dream SMP WAR
If you don't know, TechnoBlade is one of the biggest Minecraft YouTubers out there. His videos attract millions of views with witty humor and also a lot of skills. In the famous Dream SMP War, TechnoBlade does use the crossbow as one of his weapons.
Here's how you can get Technoblade crossbow enchantments and build.
For ammunition, he uses multi-colored firework rockets. You can learn to craft those from our guide on fireworks. Enchantment-wise, TechnoBlade uses Multishot, Quick Charge, Unbreaking III, and Mending. It's the same combination as our crossbow build for general purposes.
That's everything you need to know about the best crossbow enchantments Minecraft. Build your weapon according to our guide above and you will be literally unstoppable. For more fun Minecraft guides, visit our website at GuruGamer.com.
4 tricks to use a Minecraft crossbow effectively
Ranged weapons such as Minecraft crossbows are very popular. While consuming ammunition, they allow players to dispatch all the mobs without having to get close. However, players usually complain about their lower damage in comparison to melee weapons.
Use tipped arrows
Gamers have the option to enhance arrows by infusing them with potion effects, elevating their strength. Even though the effect's duration is only 1/8 of the original potion's, it's a convenient method to gain an additional edge in combat. Valuable effects for these enhanced arrows include Decay, Slowness, Harming, Healing, and Poison.
To acquire these augmented arrows, players can gather them from defeated mobs, trade for them, or engage in bartering. Notably, in the Bedrock Edition, they can fill a cauldron with a potion, using it to imbue arrows with corresponding effects.
Preload Minecraft crossbow
The crossbow can be stored in a different inventory slot or placed in an item frame without unloading or firing the arrow or firework rocket. This tactic enables players to bypass the loading time by carrying multiple crossbows in their inventory.
Employing this technique allows players to swiftly switch between loaded crossbows, enabling them to repeatedly fire their preferred projectile. This strategy can be quite potent in player-versus-player (PVP) scenarios, offering a swift and potentially lethal advantage.
Multishot crossbow
Multishot stands as a top-tier enchantment for crossbows, essentially tripling the weapon's damage output. When in close range, it allows players to strike an opponent with three arrows in a single shot. Additionally, it extends to firework rockets, triggering three substantial explosions instead of just one.
However, it's important to note that Multishot and piercing are mutually exclusive enchantments. Players must opt for one over the other unless they use console commands to grant both enchantments to the crossbow simultaneously.
Use Firework Rockets
Crossbows can be loaded with potent firework rockets capable of causing explosions. Although this ammunition is costly (requiring 7 firework stars for maximum damage), the resulting effect is visually stunning and adds significant style points to PVP matches.
These firework rockets can inflict a maximum explosion damage of 19, surpassing the damage output of standard bows or crossbows by a significant margin.
Medium charge to fire arrows faster
Players can opt for a quicker strategy when using a bow, as it's unnecessary to fully charge for the entire 1-second duration. A mere 0.2 seconds of charging already achieves medium charge, dealing 5 damage per shot. Going for the full second charge only yields an additional 1 damage, and reaching a critical hit with over 1 second of charge results in just 11 damage.
Hence, the most effective approach involves rapid arrow shooting, charging for only 0.2 to 0.3 seconds to maximize DPS (damage per second).
Flame enchantment
Equipping your bow with the Flame enchantment enables it to inflict fire damage upon striking a target, and it can also ignite TNT and campfires upon contact. Even Endermen, known for their teleporting abilities to evade attacks, can be ignited by an arrow shot from a bow enchanted with Flame.
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